


Just One Kiss

by Hopefulbadger



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Nuts and Dolts Week (RWBY), Nuts and Dolts Week 2020 (RWBY), Penny is adoreable, Ruby is a good girlfriend, art at end of fic, much thanks to butts the artist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23632171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hopefulbadger/pseuds/Hopefulbadger
Summary: Ruby doesn't kiss Penny the first time they sleep together, and the next morning Penny is scared and anxious it means Ruby doesn't truly love her...Just some good sweet angst.
Relationships: Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose
Comments: 4
Kudos: 43





	Just One Kiss

<https://it-me-butts.tumblr.com/post/615295437707067392/just-one-kiss-ruby-doesnt-kiss-penny-the-first>

Just one kiss

Ruby doesn't kiss Penny the first time they sleep together, and the next morning Penny is scared and anxious it means Ruby doesn't truly love her...

Ruby was so beautiful in the morning light. Breathtaking beyond reason. It almost hurt. Did humans feel that? Was it like that for real girls too? Did it hurt like this to wake up next to adorable raven redheads beginning to drool on their pillow like this for everyone else? Did their hearts rush, beating like there would never be enough? She couldn't help it. Her hand just reached out, going to brush away one of the small stray straggling locks on the slumbering woman's head back. Yes. It most certainly hurt. She wanted to cry, but she knew from years ago that wasn't quite possible. That hurt too, but only in the way a stubbed toe is but a whisper in the scream of a broken bone.

"I love you." Penny whispered foreign words for the first time in her life. Her fingers spun the tuft of hair a dozen times over, wishing for the strength to wake the other woman up and say the same words once more.

Penny's eyes stung. She imagined that was what everyone else felt like when they wanted to cry, that for them it would at least build to a breaking point where they could get some relief from the pain; a relief that she wished she could have. Her hand slowly lowered to rest on Ruby's cheek, caressing it softly and then a thumb slipped down to grace against Ruby's lips covered in smudged lipstick. It was a mess, but it was certainly beautiful. It was only then that Penny realized she hadn't gotten the opportunity to kiss those beautiful messy lips. They had done plenty of things the night before, plenty of absolutely beautiful and sinful things that she adored, but somehow, they had flown right past the traditional initial sign of affection. A sigh and Penny's thumb wiped up the drool just a moment before it finally fell.

"Uugh!" Ruby bolted awake, sitting up in a startled motion.

"Ruby? You ok?" Penny scooted in closer on the bed concerned for Ruby.

"I! Y- yeah. Gosh, sorry… just easily startled." Ruby sighed, slowly laying back onto the bed and resting her head down in the same place it had been a moment earlier.

"Are you sure you are ok?" Penny inched closer on the bed, finding herself shocked that at some point during the night they had stopped cuddling and drifted apart.

"Y- yeah." Ruby repeated with that same startled reeling breathlessness. "Just a nightmare or something." Her story changed.

"Oh, ok. Well, I am just glad you are alright." Penny hadn't slowed her encroachment. She wanted to be close to the other woman again, to do whatever she could to comfort her.

"Yeah- yeah." Ruby sounded far from certain. "I will be." Her eyes fluttered shut with what Penny vaguely recognized as an exhausted sigh.

"Did you get any good sleep at all?" Penny worried.

"I… umm, it was alright?" Ruby questioned cautious.

"Oh?" Penny pulled back a smidgen; more like simply stopped moving closer, but it felt like pulling miles away for her. "I-" Penny frowned. That was nothing like how Blake had talked about sleeping next to Yang! Had she done something wrong? Blake said it was comforting! The 'best sleep she had ever gotten in her life'! Penny's face grew pensive. "I mean, I don't really feel much when I go into power-saving mode… but it was nice booting back up to see you here." Penny tried to cheer.

"Yeah! Yeah! That is nice!" That bright smile finally returned to the dolt's face to Penny's immense relief. "That is really nice and I am glad too!"

"And, last night?" Penny lead lead, eager to know if she had done well if Ruby had enjoyed what they did together the previous night.

"Last night?" Ruby's eyes snapped open and her head whipped over to look at Penny. "Last night was something spectacular."

"I- really? You liked it!" Penny brightened.

"Of course I did Penny." Ruby smiled wide. "I was with you." She lowered her head and just as Penny expected her to go in for a kiss, Ruby nudged her shoulder with her forehead.

Penny had just finished closing her eyes and puckering her lips when she felt the push at her shoulder. No kiss like she had expected, instead, she suddenly felt like she was back before they had officially even gotten together. There was nothing wrong with the small nudge, once upon a time it was more than enough to make her heart flutter; or whatever was there in her chest at least. But it still hurt, felt like a rejection, like being thrown back to when they were just friends despite the fact that they had just both woken up in a bed together without a shred of clothing between them.

"You ok?" Ruby questioned, cheery but detached.

"I! Yeah!" Penny half yelped, trying to appear as if she were not in mid-crisis.

"You sure babe?" Ruby leaned in and caressed Penny's cheek.

There it was! It's gonna happen!

"Yeah." Penny's eyes glimmered in anticipation. "Just kind of… craving the feeling of being close with you again, intimate-" She realized how it would sound the exact moment it came out of her mouth. "Not intimate like that! Just! Close!" She whimpered frustrated and flustered. "I'm just… just want to feel you close and k-" Her tongue caught in her mouth as Ruby began to move in. There it was! It was coming! She could feel it, Ruby's breath brushing lightly against her. Ruby was going to kiss her! Penny's heart swelled as she closed her eyes once more, pursed her lips, she leaned in, going to kiss back and then… Ruby hugged her. No kiss, no love to it, just a hug. If it had been possible, Penny was certain that was when she would have broken, that she wouldn't have been able to hold back tears if she could make them at all. Why? Why hadn't Ruby…

"Ruby." Penny sighed, giving up and just hugging Ruby back. She simply tried to remember the times where that was more than enough to make her heart soar. But, that had been back before they started dating, back before they had confessed their feelings for each other. Months had passed since, and months more before they decided it was time for this. But… had it all been a mistake? It wasn't like they kissed all that often before, and when they did, it was seldom something super hot and heavy… never, it was never something hot and heavy. But, why wouldn't Ruby? Had she done something wrong? Something that disappointed Ruby? That made the other woman not want her anymore?

What felt like could only be evidence of her lover pulling away, came in the form of, well, of Ruby literally pulling away and then hopping out of bed. "I gotta go shower, brush my teeth and all." She gave a shy smile and pointed towards her bathroom with a pair of thumbs.

"Yeah- of, of course." Penny forced a smile back, pretending that she was perfectly fine, that none of it hurt, and that she was perfectly fine.

"I'll be back when I'm done." Ruby's cheeks bounced in a renewed smile before hopping off like nothing at all had changed.

Penny collapsed back onto the bed, everything within her feeling off and painful. Her night with Ruby had been perfect, delightful, special in so many ways. But, what if it hadn't been the same for Ruby? If Ruby hadn't enjoyed? If it felt off or wrong to her. "Oh god!" Penny thrust her head back into the pillow, heart, or whatever she had there in her chest aching something awful. What if… it was a horrid thought, a horrid, awful no good thought. But it spread like poison through her processors. What if Ruby hadn't liked it- hadn't liked it because of what she was? Certainly, humans and robots felt differently? Pietro was wonderful; a scientist unrivaled, but could he ever perfectly match the female anatomy and how it feels? Especially being a man himself?

If she wasn't an accurate mirror image, maybe what she thought made Ruby feel good, didn't make Ruby feel good at all? What if… what if it was the final straw? The last thing she needed, the final proof to Ruby that Penny was in fact, not a real girl? Penny's heart broke once more.

The poor woman broke before Ruby could even finish her shower. Covering her eyes, with heavy sobs, she ran off, her processors spiraling off. By the time Penny returned to her room, she was confident that Ruby not only didn't love her but that Ruby no longer believed her to be a real girl at all.

Thankfully, a little time and a frantic message to Winter or two returned with calming and reassuring messages, left her almost calm enough to breathe regularly again. An ability that seemed to be of utmost importance when a knock came at her door.

"Penn? Penny? You ok?" Ruby's voice clearly worried as her forehead thudded against the door with an exasperated sigh. "Penny? What's going on? I- I went to take a shower and when I came out you were gone?" Ruby knocked twice more at the door. "I don't even know if you are actually in here."

Penny's heart broke hearing the concern in Ruby's voice. She sounded almost scared, hurting. "I'm here." Penny called back as she stood from her bed. She could hear Ruby's startled, hurting inhale through the door.

"Why did you run off?" Ruby held bated breath from the other side of the door as Penny approached.

"I-" Penny wanted to tell the truth! She wanted to explain what had scared her, why she ran off. She really wanted to, to ask why the other woman hadn't kissed her, what had gone on. But the moment she pulled the door back, she found her herself saying something entirely different. "I- I just wanted to grab a quick change of clothes."

Ruby pulled back, surprised if not relieved at the door flinging open so suddenly. That only lasted a short moment however as she spotted the other woman and her outfit. "You are wearing what you were last night." Her eyebrow cocked.

"I- just got here." Penny looked around her room, hating that she was lying, but she just couldn't bring herself to admit it, admit what was running through her head.

"Penny?"

"Sorry for worrying you!" At least that was truthful.

"Penny."

"Are you ok?"

"Penny!"

"I- Yeah?"

"Why are you lying?" Ruby lowered her gaze to her hands as her thumbs fiddled with each other.

"I! Lying?"

"I took ten minutes waiting for you to come back before I headed back out here. It only takes two to walk from my room to yours. Penny, why are you lying to me?" Ruby kicked gently at the ground below her, striving to focus on anything other than what might be Penny's reasons.

"I- I-"

"What's going on?"

"I- I told you, I- just came back to get a change of clothes. I uugh… guess I just took my time getting back to my room I-"

"Penny stop it!" Ruby half stomped her foot.

"I-"

"Penny! I need you to tell me what the hell is going on!"

"I just got scared… ok?" Technically, that wasn't entirely a lie, but it still felt dirty not to be more honest with Ruby.

"Penny?" Ruby moved in closer, throwing her arms out to take Penny in.

Penny tragically thought somehow that she would have been smart enough not to get her hopes up, but that didn't seem to work, as for a whole moment she hoped and prayed that Ruby might kiss her, but then the dolt's head was over her shoulder and holding her in close. "Thanks Ruby." Penny tried to be cheery, to pretend everything was ok, that she wasn't terrified the love of her life might leave at any moment.

"Did we go too fast last night? I- we don't have to do it again." Ruby comforted, holding Penny and rubbing her back gently. "I don't want to do it anymore if you didn't like it." Ruby tried to comfort, but all Penny could hear was 'I don't want to do it anymore'. It felt like all the proof she needed. Ruby didn't love her, not anymore.

"It… It's fine." Penny pulled away, trying to shield her wounded heart.

"I'm sorry Penn. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Penny shook her head, trying to turn away the idea.

"You wanna just relax here? Watch a movie or something?" Ruby suggested in her cheery and upbeat tone.

"Yeah, sure. That sounds nice." Penny agreed downtrodden.

"Ok." Ruby agreed cautiously before escorting Penny back to her bed and putting something on for them to watch. She returned back to the bed to tragically find there would be no true cuddling. Even when she tried to hold Penny's hand, the other woman seemed sheepish about it, her hand wriggling away after only a moment or two. She stopped trying after two or three attempts to be closer to Penny, but after an hour or so, the tables had turned.

Penny ended up reaching out next. Something small, just her hand trying to snake its way in between Ruby's fingers. Maybe the dolt was still hurting? Maybe Penny was just too inside her own head and reading into everything a little too much. But either way, Penny felt like Ruby was pulling away with a molasses speed the whole time they were holding hands. It hurt, broke what was left of Penny's self-confidence.

"Everything ok?" Ruby spoke up as she spotted the credits began to roll on their movie.

"Yeah." Penny coughed up, sounding as if she were on the verge of tears.

"Penn."

"W- what?" Penny's voice rasped.

"Penny! You need to talk to me!" Ruby pulled away and sat up on the bed.

"T- talk to you about what?"

"I don't even know!" Ruby half yelled. Standing up from the bed, her eyes pierced down on the other woman.

"I-"

"What has been going on? Why have you been acting weird? Pulling away!" Ruby snapped, tears welling in her eyes. "Penny! I- I want to know, to understand. But I can't if you don't tell me what is going on? Is… is it about last night? That we had sex? Was that the issue?"

"No!" Penny moved to the edge of the bed, standing on her knees. "It's not that!"

"Then what is it! What could it be! We haven't done anything since we had sex last night! So what could it be!" Ruby was clearly coming undone, scared and upset about how her girlfriend had been treating her.

"That is just it!"

"What is just it! That we had sex?" Ruby had begun to cry.

"No! That we didn't do anything after! I! I thought girlfriends were supposed to kiss in the morning when we wake up naked together!" Penny blurted out.

"You were mad because I didn't kiss you?"

"I- not mad! I'm just scared! If you didn't want to kiss me anymore then… then maybe you wouldn't want me anymore!"

Ruby's tears ebbed and she wiped her face clean. "You were mad because I wasn't kissing you?"

"I wasn't mad! I just… don't want to lose my girlfriend."

"I wasn't kissing you because I wasn't sure if you liked it. I- I know that your parts from the waist up aren't exactly one for one. It's not like we kiss all that much or deeply to begin with. Figured you had a reason for not pushing things like that. I just didn't want you to feel uncomfortable. I didn't want you to feel anything less than the real girl you are. I- I love you Penny."

"I love you too."

"I love you." Ruby repeated.

"Just kiss me you dolt."

"Just one?"

Penny's lips twitched up in a bright relieved smile. "Just one kiss."

The End

Wanna see some art for this fic!<https://it-me-butts.tumblr.com/post/615295437707067392/just-one-kiss-ruby-doesnt-kiss-penny-the-first>

https://it-me-butts.tumblr.com/post/615295437707067392/just-one-kiss-ruby-doesnt-kiss-penny-the-first  
The artist is great! A friend of mine, please check them out! Their art is so wholesome and sweet!


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